U.S. financial advisors view social media as an increasingly important tool to engage clients, grow their business and better understand clients' investment, according to an Accenture survey released Tuesday.
At the same time, they significantly overestimate investors' investment savvy and risk appetite.
Accenture's two-part survey included 400 U.S.-based financial advisors, working for at least two years at brokerages, wirehouses, banks or as independents or representatives of regional banks or insurance firms.
It also involved 1,005 high-income, digitally savvy U.S. investors, made up of an even mix of men and women, who were current investors or intended to invest within three years and used social media at least every week.
The survey revealed that financial advisors saw the rapid adoption of digital technologies changing their relationships with clients and viewed social media tools as increasingly critical to their individual success.
- 48% of financial advisors reported daily use of social media to interact with their clients, 60% of whom had assets of more than $20 million
- 74% believed social media helped them boost their asset base, and 50% claimed to have successfully used social media to convert prospects into clients
- 49% said they believed firms that failed to leverage social media would lose clients to firms that did
"The use of social media to interact with clients is a differentiator for advisors today, but it will be mere table stakes in the not too distant future," Alex Pigliucci, global managing director of Accenture Wealth and Asset Management Services, said in a statement.
